Brief Chat: Anthony Whiteman, Sub-4:00 at 40

By Phil Latter Race photo by Victah Sailer Anthony Whiteman with the Mellow Mushroom mascot in Asheville, N.C. When 40-year-old Anthony Whiteman ran 3:58.79 last Saturday to win the Music City Distance Carnival’s elite mile race, he became the first masters runner to break 4:00 outdoors. (Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan accomplished the feat indoors in 1994.) A British Olympian in 1996 and 2000 with PRs of3:32.34 for 1500 meters and 3:51.90 in the mile, Whiteman took a six-year hiatus from the sport before launching an unexpected comeback in 2010. We spoke over calzones at the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville, N.C., on June 5, one day before Whiteman set a 40+ record of 1:48.22 for 800 meters. It seems like a lot of hopeful record setters try to get into a large meet like the Prefontaine Classic and just hold on for dear life. You flew to Nashville. What made you think running at The...